Medical Ethics Advisor
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Be Careful About Informed Consent if Pelvic Exams Happen While Patients Are Under Anesthesia
Incorporate explicit discussions with patients about pelvic exams conducted while patients are under anesthesia. These discussions should occur during consent processes for gynecologic procedures. Specifically, patients would be told about the potential for medical student involvement in these exams.
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How Should Researchers Proceed if They Suspect Neglect or Abuse?
If researchers interview a child during a minimal risk study at a school, and they suspect the child is a victim of abuse or neglect, investigators are ethically obligated to respond to this.
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New Tools to Facilitate Single IRB Process
The intent of the revised Common Rule requiring institutions to rely on a single IRB for review of multisite research was to make the process simpler and prevent redundancies. Yet several years after the requirement became effective, research teams still struggle with frustrating operational challenges.
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IRBs Must Review Study Protocols Rapidly and Ethically During Public Health Emergency
Conducting clinical research during an infectious disease outbreak takes careful planning and coordination. The entire process hinges on excellent communication among everyone involved.
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Updated Tactics for Parkinson’s Disease Study Recruitment
Remote, decentralized studies allow for the recruitment of large, geographically dispersed cohorts from a single location. In considering whether to use a decentralized design or to include remote assessments, the research team must determine if these methods can adequately answer the question under study.
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For Individualized Therapy Trials, Remain Mindful of Transparency, Reporting Bias
Individualized therapy studies should be publicly and prospectively registered in a clinical trial database. The authors should report results regardless of outcomes. If these trials are not handled right, it might be a step backward in terms of transparency and reporting bias.
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Cardiac Xenotransplantation Could Fill the Organ Donor Gap, But Is It Ethical?
There are not enough organs for heart failure patients who need them, and cardiac xenotransplantation is one potential, albeit controversial, solution.
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Wearable Tech in Clinical Research Trials
Researchers are partnering with companies to facilitate clinical research trials that call for patients to use wearable tech, which raises multiple ethical concerns.
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Clinicians Must Remain Cautious When Using Social Media
Many clinicians see their social media presence as distinct from their clinical role. While this is somewhat true, it is important to remember once something is put online, one cannot control who sees it or how it is interpreted.
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Pain Researchers Are Engaging Patients as Partners
Pain researchers would benefit by enacting a comprehensive approach to patient engagement, perhaps engaging people with lived experience of chronic pain in developing study recruitment materials.